Coraline Movie Review
Directed by Henry Selick
Writing credits
Henry Selick (screenplay)
Neil Gaiman (novel)
Voice Talent (Top Billing)
Dakota Fanning as Coraline Jones
Teri Hatcher as Mel Jones / Other Mother / Beldam
Jennifer Saunders as Miss April Spink / Other Spink
Dawn French as Miss Miriam Forcible / Other Forcible
Keith David as The Cat
John Hodgman as Charlie Jones / Other Father
Robert Bailey Jr. as Wybie Lovat
Ian McShane as Mr. Sergei Alexander Bobinsky / Other Bobinsky
It is an increasingly rare and wonderful gift to view an animated children’s film that’s smartly written and appeals to adults. The film Coraline is one of those gifts.
The film’s tagline is “Be careful what you wish for.” This is also the underlying theme that drives the plot. The film begins with Coraline and her parents moving into their new home. Coraline grows increasingly attention-starved and frustrated with her quality of life as her inattentive parents are consumed with completing their work assignments. While exploring her new home, she finds a small doorway that leads to what appears to be a world that mirrors her own, complete with the “Other Mother” and “Other Father”. The only difference is that the Other Parents lavish Coraline with all she ever dreamt of -- attention, affection, delicious foods, and seemingly incessant entertainment. But Coraline soon learns that the grass is not always greener…
Everything about Coraline seems to aim for that area between the melancholy, mundane chill of a gray, rainy afternoon, and the surreal, nostalgic comfort of grandma’s hand-quilted blanket and a mug of hot cocoa with marshmallows (In fact, I highly recommend viewing this film in this manner. Feel free to substitute the hot cocoa with an Irish coffee.)
The children’s film Coraline is sophisticated and layered with numerous rich elements, but not overly saccharined with the fluff of a Disney product, making it an ideal family film for kids and adults.
The Grades
Story: A child who is growing increasingly disillusioned with her life gets a chance to sample greener pastures with intriguing results. The story is entertaining and the dialogue is organic, free-flowing, and interesting. In other words, the writers took everything about the dialogue and story of Star Wars: Episode 3, and did the exact opposite. Brilliant work. Grade: A
Acting: This film was extremely well-cast. All voice actors breathed life into their stop-motion characters and gave them all genuine souls. Dakota Fanning made Coraline appear adorable and plucky. Teri Hatcher had more range than I expected, playing the busy original mother, and the attentive Other Mother. Those two stand out, but really, everyone was brilliant. Grade: A
Visuals: Unlike Pixar’s Up, the stylized character drawings of Coraline were creative and interesting. I was particularly blown away by the detail in their facial expressions. Whenever Coraline was upset or irritated, the artists did more than just paste on two down-turned eyebrows. There was a furrowed brow, teeth gnashing, and eye-rolling. Not only that, but the characters’ full range of emotions were painstakingly displayed on their faces. The visual artistry combined with the stellar voice-acting to give each character unexpected depth and warmth. Even the musical score helps set the moody tone with its mellow and hauntingly comforting vibe.
The settings were also well-crafted and visually stunning. And this is coming from a guy who viewed this film in 2D on an old-school CRT screen. I can’t begin to imagine what it must have been like to view Coraline in 3D. My central nervous system might have spontaneously combusted. Grade: A+
Originality/Innovation: Coraline is a film adaptation of a children’s novel by the same name. In the film, a character named Wyborne (or “Wybie”) was created to interact with Coraline. I believe this was done because the novel might have used a great deal of first-person narration and literary introspection to move the story along as Coraline explored her world. Staying true to the novel would have made the Coraline character seem slightly “Rain Man-ish”, so I’m assuming that Wyborne was added to provide her with a sounding board and act as a pseudo-foil. Wyborne is an annoying, but lovable character, sort of like Jar Jar Binks would have been had George Lucas actually figured out the lovable part. I think Wyborne added to the film while taking absolutely nothing away from it. Nicely done. Grade: A
Enjoyability Grade: Coraline is extremely enjoyable, especially on rainy days. Grade: A+
Date Material: Unlike the animated film 9, Coraline has wide-ranging appeal. It is dark enough to retain its ironic coolness, and soft enough to appeal to everyone’s innermost sap. It is a highly-recommended date film. Grade: A+
Contemporary Element (Will it be watchable two decades from now?): Absolutely. Grade: A+
Redeeming Quality: Grade: N/A
Overall Grade: A+
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